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Barbara Lee isn’t the
leader Oakland needs
Re: “Leaders courting Bay Area progressive for mayor” (Page A1, Nov. 16).
A little post-election advice: It’s been said that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results. Barbara Lee was perhaps the most progressive member of Congress. Do you really want her (or some other extreme progressive) to be your mayor, Oakland?
If you don’t like the way things are going around here and want things to change, then stop voting only for Democrats. Or, at least, stop voting only for far-left Democrats. Mix in a few moderates or even, heaven forbid, a Republican for a change.
One-party dominance, whether by Republicans or Democrats, is undemocratic.
Christopher Andrus
Dublin
AC Transit will cut
costs by cutting service
Re: “AC Transit should cut its costs, not just chase more tax dollars” (Page A6, Nov. 14).
The writer appears unaware that ACTransit is cutting costs via its Realign Plan, being implemented in March 2025. I should know: The service on the line I depend on, the No. 7, is being cut in half.
It’s hard to attract new riders when service is cut like this.
Joanna Pace
El Cerrito
Essay uses scare
tactics to shape agenda
Re: “Managing solar radiation must include controls” (Page A6, Nov. 15).
Lara Williams’ essay is trying to scare us out of even thinking about stratospheric aerosol injection to deal quickly to prevent climate change. She uses biasing words, scare words, such as “dangerous,” “seductive,” “risks,” “scary,” and “terrifying”.
Such geoengineering is clearly cheaper, faster and easily reversed by stopping injecting the right-sized particles in the upper stratosphere. It’s clear that what she’s really afraid of is competition with her preferred strategy, greenhouse gas emission reductions. That has been tried for 30 years and is not reducing the rise of greenhouse gases. In fact, levels in the atmosphere increase every year.
Geoengineering is far easier and more practical than changing the energy systems of civilization which, as history shows, takes about a century. So let us do the needed research on these promising methods. It’s the future, so it’s best to get on with it.
James Benford
Lafayette
Grandparent argument
is not convincing
Re: “Today’s marijuana not your grandparents’ pot” (Page A7, Nov. 12).
I had to laugh this commentary.
No, today’s pot is not your grandparents’ pot. Neither is your car your grandparents’ car, nor your phone your grandparents’ phone nor your computer … did your grandparents even have computers? I guess that makes everything bad.
What an ignorant approach to life: If your grandparents didn’t do it, nobody should.
Weed is stronger. Cars drive themselves. Phones have apps and computers are … well, they are your phones. But prison is still prison, and prohibition is still wrong. America doesn’t need more specious and biased fear-mongering about cannabis. It’s here to stay, so smoke a low-potency joint (yes, they still exist) and chill out.
Chris Conrad
El Sobrante
Time for conservatives
to come from shadows
It has been interesting this past week watching and listening to the gnashing of teeth, the wails of rage and the somber reckonings to the reality of the failings of the progressive left. There is no greater disinfectant than the rays of the sun shining the light of truth about what has been going on for the last four years. No longer will I and other conservative Californians stay in the shadows for fear of being ostracized and banished for having values contrary to the mantra of the radical left.
It’s time to stand up and be heard for those values which are basic to common sense. The desire for safe streets, affordable groceries and the ability to live a life free of others’ oppressive tactics to silence dissent and control information are not radical ideals. They are the ideals of living a normal life where happiness can be found and enjoyed.
Ray Winther
Livermore
Our nation can still
unite in peace
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How do we feel, Americans?
We asked for a truly democratic election and I believe we got it. Do we now spend the next four years complaining because it did not turn out the way we wanted? Or do we each ask ourselves: What can I do to make things better?
What would happen if, instead of hating and complaining, we turned our thoughts toward peace, spoke peace, lived peace, became peace. America will never heal if half our citizens are wrapped up in fear and hatred. We might not even survive.
John Rexroat
Concord